Research Paper on:
Poullain de la Barre's Three Cartesian Feminist Treaties and Natalie Zemon Davis' The Return of Martin Guerre

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
when discussing how society approaches issues of gender in any given time period or society. In the novel "The Return of Martin Guerre" by Natalie Zemon Davis we are presented  with the life and struggles of a woman in 16th century France. And, in the work "Three Cartesian Feminist Theories" by Poullain de la Barre we are offered straightforward, and  perhaps radical ideas concerning feminism, a century later. Bearing that in mind the following paper examines what the character of Bertrande, in Davis "The Return of Martin Guerre," would have  had to say in regards to the arguments presented by Poullain de la Barre a century later. Bertrandes Experiences The women of Bertrandes time period, and location,  were perhaps not unlike women in the various social classes of other civilized nations. She was from a family that was considered very well off and as such she  had social obligations to uphold as a part of that reality. She was a very young girl when she first married Martin, perhaps 9 or 10 years of age, and  we see the marriage as something that has concerned the people of the village due to the fact that Martin cannot perform in bed. In chapter 2 we see  that "Nothing happened in Bertrandes marriage bed, it seemed, neither that night nor for more than eight years afterward. Martin Guerre was impotent; the couple had been cast under a  spell" (Davis NA). Interestingly enough, however, we note that Bertrande was not completely depressed by this reality: "Bertrande might not have put it in these words, but it seems clear  that for a while she was relieved that they could not have intercourse. Yet, when urged by her relatives to separate from Martin, she firmly refused" for a variety of